Following a consultation in October 2016, the Gambling Commission (Commission) has recently announced revised remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS) aimed at ensuring that online operators offer consumers a uniformed set of tools to monitor their gambling activities in the United Kingdom.

Prior to the consultation, the RTS has remained generally unchanged since it was first implemented in 2007. The Commission has concluded that it is now necessary to reflect the modern changes in technology in the gambling environment and the significant growth of online gambling in the United Kingdom with the revised RTS.

On 1 April 2018 the following three new monitoring requirements, aimed at assisting consumers, will come into force:

RTS 1 – Customer Account Information

• Customers must have immediate access to three months’ account and gambling history without having to contact the online operator, and upon request to the online operator a minimum of twelve months’ account and gambling history (the availability of this functionality must also be communicated clearly to the customer).

• Online operators will also be required to make details of ‘net deposits’ available to customers.

RTS 2 – Displaying transactions

• One aim of the RTS 2 is to ensure that any remote gambling system must make available clear information about the amount of money being gambled by the customer (especially where the online operator is using a non-currency format i.e. chips, tokens).

• RTS 2 also states that customers must be given a choice as to whether to accept price fluctuations, and where a customer chooses not to accept price changes automatically, any bet where the price changes must be re-offered to the customer before it is accepted.

RTS 12 – Financial limits

• RTS 12 requires online operators to provide customers with easily accessible facilities to impose their own financial limits as part of the registration process with that online operator or at the point where the customer makes their first deposit. The RTS guidance states that such limits should have the functionality to be implemented across all products or for individual products.

The updated RTS will also include two additional provisions regarding cheating (RTS 11) and the use of third-party software (RTS 16), both requirements coming into effect immediately as of 1 October 2017.

For additional information from the Commission on the revised RTS please click here.